Electronic control devices are used nowadays in increasing numbers in the field of automobiles. Examples of this are engine control devices and control devices for ABS systems and airbags. For electrically driven vehicles a current focus of research is the development of high-performance battery packs with associated battery management systems, i.e. control devices, which are equipped with software for monitoring the functionality of the battery. Battery management systems ensure, inter alia, safe and reliable functioning of the battery cells and battery packs which are used. They monitor and control currents, voltages, temperatures, insulation resistances and further variables for individual cells and/or the entire battery pack. By using these variables it is possible to implement management functions which increase the service life, reliability and safety of the battery system.
DE 10 2010 031 337 A1 presents a method for determining the expected service life of battery cells. To this end, physical variables and/or the number of executions of processes which take place in the battery cells are determined for a plurality of operating cycles and the frequency of the occurrence of specific values of the physical variable and/or the frequency of the number of executions of at least one specific process are/is stored. As a result, cell defects, inter alia, can be detected early and prevented, and precise knowledge about the expected service life of the battery cell can be acquired.